


If That's the Only Way

by hajiiwa



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Final Haikyuu Quest, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Childhood Friends, Established Relationship, Final Haikyuu Quest, Fluff, Hopeful Ending, Kings & Queens, Knight Iwaizumi Hajime, Light Angst, M/M, Mage Oikawa Tooru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-08
Updated: 2017-07-08
Packaged: 2018-11-29 11:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11440044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hajiiwa/pseuds/hajiiwa
Summary: There's hesitation on Iwaizumi's part-- it's minuscule, but it's there, it's enough. Oikawa grins, huge and inviting."Run away with me, Iwa-chan."





	If That's the Only Way

**Author's Note:**

> a cute little one-shot i wrote to try and compensate for my lack of activity!! they are established in this, since it's sort of vague for a while. enjoy~
> 
> also this isn't _really_ a songfic, but i did snatch the title from a norah jones song hehe

He was full of  _life_.

Iwaizumi has always known this, practically from the day he had met Oikawa. His hat had been slipping down and his armor was hanging from his lanky frame and his _eyes_ \-- his eyes held hope and promise and a certain fire that Iwaizumi had never seen. Oikawa had stopped dead in front of him, breathing heavy, arms caked in mud up to his elbows. “Are you a forest creature?!” he had asked, gasping comically. Iwaizumi had let out an indignant squawk.

“No!! No, I just have mud on me!! I am-- I am human. And I’m _nine_.”

Oikawa had gasped again. “I’m nine too!” He’d flung out a hand. “My name is Oikawa Tooru. I’m a mage.”

“What?” Iwaizumi’d scowled. “You don’t look like a mage.”

“Geh-- you’re mean!”

“You’re dumb!!”

(Of course, he hadn’t been sure what to do with that knowledge when he was nine. He barely knew what to do with it now, and seventeen, walking down a dirt pathway with Oikawa at his side.)

“This leaf looks like you, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa stops, holding up a brownish-green leaf with pointy edges. Iwaizumi frowns.

“Really? Why’s that?”

Oikawa shrugs, letting it flutter to the ground. He purposefully walks around it. “Spiky and a little small.”

Iwaizumi smacks his arm. “Then that toad over there is you.”

“That’s a clever retort.” Oikawa giggles and dodges Iwaizumi’s elbow. “Maybe you aren’t a leaf after all. Leaves are supposed to be…” He trails off.

“They’re supposed to be what?” Iwaizumi is relaxed once more, his sharp eyes scanning the treetops for birds or something more sinister. “Helpful?”

“Well, no,” Oikawa says, slowing his pace. “You’re more like a tree, I think.”

Iwaizumi rolls his eyes. “How delightful.”

Oikawa huffs. “No, I mean it! You’re reliable and strong, unlike those _temporary_ leaves. You’ll be around for a long time.”

The knight reaches up and tousles Oikawa’s hair. “Come on, dummy, you know how quickly knights die. You’re learning magic, you’ll be able to increase your lifespan. Probably.”

“You know what I meant.” Oikawa’s eyes are on him again, unwavering and earnest, oddly serious. Iwaizumi falls silent. Leaves crunch under their boots, a toad ‘ _brragh_ ’s at them to their right, and the moment is over.

Oikawa begins skipping up the incline, baby blue tunic bouncing. “Hurry up, Iwa-chan! I want food.”

“The nearest city is still a ways off.” Iwaizumi squints up at the sky, his pace quickening anyway-- who was he to say no to Oikawa? “I think we’ll get there around sundown.”

“I see fruit trees!”

“You dumbass, don’t go eating off of random trees!”

Oikawa’s teeth sink into a red-and-green apple. “Seems fine to me.”

Grumbling, Iwaizumi leans back against the tree, looking north. He could very vaguely point out their destination, miles off along a sparkling river. “It’s so… bright.”

Oikawa slithers down next to him, apple almost half gone. “Mmm. It’s huge, too.”  _Crunch_. “I hope this college is good.”

Ah, yes. The reason for their excursion. Oikawa had been accepted into a rather prestigious college for higher learning, specifically for magic. Iwaizumi couldn’t go with him. “Yeah.”

They’re silent for a moment-- Oikawa stops his obnoxious munching. “Will you miss me?” he asks suddenly.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Iwaizumi picks at his slightly dirtied nails. “I have to go back home all by myself.”

Oikawa tilts his head, curious and childlike. Iwaizumi glances over and quickly finds himself unable to look away, captured by his rosy cheeks, his contemplative pout. “I’ll write to you often.”

Iwaizumi looks away. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Well, I’m going to.”

_Crunch_. “It will be odd without you,” Oikawa continues, his brows knitted together, in concentration or disappointment, Iwaizumi couldn’t tell. “I’ll have no one to test my spells out on.”

“And I’ll have no one to spar with,” Iwaizumi says, nodding slightly. It was interesting, really, their partnership; a seamless understanding that ran deep, deeper than either of them could comprehend. Oikawa’s fingers find Iwaizumi’s on the grass and Iwaizumi closes his eyes, relishing the feeling of skin touching skin, innocent and gentle. His fingers slip between Oikawa’s and it makes a funny feeling rise in his chest, spreading outwards along his skin and making goosebumps rise. He thinks it’s longing, of some kind, for something he has but can’t quite keep.

Oikawa’s head comes to rest against his shoulder. “I’m going to miss you,” he says, and Iwaizumi doesn’t have to ask why.

***

The city is getting close, too close, a reminder of what little time they have left. Other travelers become more common and Iwaizumi finds himself walking closer to Oikawa than usual, knowing that the taller boy draws comfort from it. Eventually they pause, take a beat along the river, let their feet hang into it as they lean back against the grass.

Iwaizumi unclasps his sword sheath and sets it aside, grimacing, using his hands as a pillow behind his head. “How long have we been walking?”

“Three days.” Oikawa is still sitting up. “We should have used horses.”

“I’ve liked the walking.” Iwaizumi yawns, closing his eyes. “It’s just us.”

He can feel Oikawa’s gaze on him, as searing as ever, as promising. Oikawa slowly leans down next to him and then there are fingers sliding through his hair, down his cheeks, brushing away the dirt on his neck. Iwaizumi shivers.

“I like that too.” Iwaizumi opens his eyes to see Oikawa _right_ above him, expression odd, eyes wide. “I think it should stay that way.”

Iwaizumi tilts his head. “You’re going away. It can’t.”

Dismayed, Oikawa flops down onto his back. “I know. I know it can’t. Unless…”

He almost doesn’t want to know. “Unless what?” asks Iwaizumi, tone suspicious.

“We leave.” There's hesitation on Iwaizumi's part-- it's minuscule, but it's there, it's enough. Oikawa grins, huge and inviting.

"Run away with me, Iwa-chan."

Iwaizumi can’t speak for a moment, only watches Oikawa, the hopeful glimmer in his eyes. “Where would we go?”

“I don’t know.”

“What would we do?”

“I don’t care.”

Something brushes past Iwaizumi’s ankle in the water and he cringes, lifting his legs out. Oikawa still hasn’t looked away from him, like he was expecting an earnest answer. “We can’t.”

“Why not?” Oh, Lord, Oikawa is giving a look he can’t resist-- the one with passion in his eyes and an eager smile playing at his mouth. “The world is vast, Iwa-chan, and we have seen so little of it. Surely, somewhere, we could hold our own.”

Iwaizumi tilts his head. “Out by the ocean,” he murmurs, and Oikawa looks down-right  _giddy_. “Tucked away in a forest.”

“Wherever.” Oikawa leans in, kissing his cheeks, forehead, nose. “Anywhere.”

He pulls back, and his head blocks out the sun, but they’re close enough that Iwaizumi can see him just fine. “Come away with me,” he says, voice a hushed whisper. “We can slip away in the night and leave all this behind.”

It’s tempting, _oh_ , it’s tempting. It’s everything he’s ever wanted displayed on a silver platter. “We could start a shop,” Iwaizumi says quietly, indulging them both in a fantasy. “You could make-- what do you call those things?”

“Herbal remedies?”

“Yes. Those. I could help gather and train the boys and girls of the town to fight.”

Oikawa nods, once, twice, his face awash with glee. “You would be the best teacher, Iwa-chan, the whole town would respect you. We could travel… meet the elven people that live in the forests…"

Iwaizumi snorts. “They don’t exist,” he chastises, sitting up. Oikawa sticks out his tongue.

“Yes, they do. I’ve seen one. He had pink hair.”

Iwaizumi blinks slowly. “Pink,” he repeats, deadpan. Oikawa giggles.

“ _Yes_ , Iwa-chan, pink. He was tall, too. Taller than you, not like it’s difficult.”

“Oi.” Iwaizumi’s slap holds no aggression. “Just when you started to be charming.”

Oikawa’s jaw drops. “Take it back!” he whines, clinging onto Iwaizumi. “I am always charming.”

Iwaizumi tilts his head and kisses him, slow and soft and tender. “You are always charming,” he echoes flatly. Oikawa laughs, and Iwaizumi tackles him to the ground, and for a while-- or maybe just a moment-- everything is light.

***

The city is breathtaking. Huge white walls stretch up towards the sky and the streets are filled with people from all over, some with dark hair and light hair and no hair. Oikawa gets lost four times, Iwaizumi accidentally steps on a tomato that a vendor had dropped, they spend all their money on crystal balls Oikawa _swore_ worked.

“We can communicate when we’re apart using these, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa whispers, and Iwaizumi’s heart sinks. _That’s right._ “I just have to enchant yours…”

“I don’t think that’s how they work,” Iwaizumi nags, but slips the small crystalline ball into his satchel anyway.

Finding the school is easy, but walking inside isn’t, both physically and mentally. Iwaizumi can’t get past the magical barrier and Oikawa doesn’t want to. “I’ll write you every day,” the mage says, voice bubbly with emotion. Iwaizumi just shakes his head, pulling Oikawa close, letting the other boy sink into his embrace. ‘ _How long?_ ’ he thinks. ‘ _When will be the next time I can touch him?_ ’

Oikawa pulls away, and there are tears on his cheeks but determination in his eyes. “Promise me you’ll be here when I come back,” he says, voice stubborn.

“I will always be here,” Iwaizumi answers, easy and honest. “We have plans now, remember? We have to travel to the great cities and make herbal remedies and meet the elven forest people.”

Iwaizumi presses their foreheads together and kisses away Oikawa’s tears, quick and gentle. “I will wait,” he reassures, fingers twining with the brunet’s. “I promise.”  
  
Slowly, reluctantly, Oikawa steps back. His lip is wobbling but Iwaizumi can tell that underneath his melancholy and longing there is  _hope_ , excitement, a craving for knowledge and power and new experiences. Iwaizumi’s heart squeezes as Oikawa turns, shoulders strong, jaw set. He vanishes behind the barrier and takes a piece of Iwaizumi with him, but the crystal ball warms under his touch as Iwaizumi cradles it in his hands and walks away.

**Author's Note:**

> i have never been more iffy about an ending ehh
> 
> comments and kudos are greatly appreciated~ 
> 
> [my tumblr!](http://chxngsey.tumblr.com/)


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